[ BUSINESS BRIEFS ]

The TAIEX extended its losses yesterday from a session earlier amid cautious sentiment toward the global economy after Europe and the US reported downbeat economic data overnight, dealers said.

The weighted index closed down 9.74 points, or 0.12 percent, at 7,947.72, on turnover of NT$75.67 billion (US$2.56 billion).

The high-tech sector followed its Wall Street counterpart to trend lower, while the financial sector staged a technical rebound to offset impact from the disappointing data from Europe and the US, they said.

Local information service company Syscom Group (凌群電腦) yesterday signed an agreement with Tokai Group, a Japan-based conglomerate with subsidiaries offering data center and information communication technology services, to form a NT$130 million joint venture in Taiwan, according to a statement from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The new company would provide cloud computing, medical care, data center and system integration services, targeting China and Southeast Asian markets.

The new company is expected to start making profit by April 2016. By 2017, the joint venture is expected to generate ￥1 billion a year, the ministry said.

Tokai Communication, a subsidiary company of Tokai Group, has been a Syscom partner for 10 years.

Asustek to release new tablet

Taiwan-based Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) will begin selling a 10.1-inch tablet — the MeMO Pad Smart ME301 — in Taiwan in two days, the company announced yesterday. The tablet, which was first unveiled by Asustek on Feb. 8, will be sold for NT$11,900 (US$402) in Taiwan, the company said.

The company is also offering MeMO Pad Smart users 5GB of online cloud storage free.

Plant production to double

The production capacity of 12-inch wafer plants operated by four major pure-play foundries around the world, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), is expected to double over the next five years, a research report said yesterday.

In the report, market information advisory firm IC Insights said the wafer foundry segment is expected to intensify its efforts to boost capacity of 12-inch plants at a faster pace than in the global semiconductor industry overall.

In addition to TSMC and UMC, which are the top two contract chipmakers in Taiwan, the two other pure-play wafer foundries are GlobalFoundries Inc of the US and China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯).

Last year, TSMC, which is also known as the world’s largest wafer foundry, ranked as the fifth-largest owner of 12-inch wafer plants, with a monthly capacity of 356,000 units — a 9.9 percent share of the world’s total, IC Insights said.

The report said that TSMC’s 12-inch wafer production capacity is expected to rise to 414,000 units per month this year to make up 10.7 percent of the global total.

NT dollar up against greenback

The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, gaining NT$0.022 to close at NT$29.658, as the local currency staged a technical rebound from a session earlier in line with a stronger South Korean won, dealers said.